The present invention relates to visors for vehicles and particularly to a visor which can slide along an elongated pivot rod.
Conventional visors typically include a visor panel mounted to a pivot rod assembly to allow the visor to move from a raised, stored position above the vehicle windshield adjacent the headliner for storage to a lowered, use position behind the windshield. The pivot rod assembly typically also allows the visor to move to a side window position to block incident sunlight from the side. Several such visor systems also employ a mechanism to allow the visor to slide along an elongated pivot rod, such that when the visor is in a lowered, use position, the visor can be slid along the pivot rod to allow adjustment of the visor to block incident light. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,925,233; 4,998,765; and 5,409,285 are representative of such sliding visor assemblies.
In order to hold a visor in a raised, stored position and control its position in selected lowered, use positions, conventional visor assemblies typically utilize an internal torque device which is an interface between the visor body and the visor pivot rod to provide not only a snap-up locking position for the visor against the vehicle headliner when stored but also a predetermined rotational holding and moving torque when lowered from a stored position to selected use positions. This device is also important when the visor assembly includes an illuminated vanity mirror since the mirror alignment can be selected by the user for maximum efficiency in use. There exists a variety of torque devices which are typically made of spring steel which interengage flats on the visor rod, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,004,289. Also, some torque devices use a deformable polymeric member which may include internally formed detents for a noncircular visor rod. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,734,955 and 4,352,518; British Patent Nos. 1395689 and 1422368, and French Patent No. 2491403 disclose polymeric torque devices which can provide such function.
Although the advantages of a polymeric torque device include the fact that they do not require separate lubrication as is the case with many spring steel torque devices as is commonly known, frequently such torque devices do not provide acceptable long-term service. This is due to the "creeping" of the polymeric material and the resultant loosened interrelationship between the visor rod and the torque device with age. None of the known sliding visor assemblies have employed a polymeric torque device. While sliding visors have proven very effective in their use, they typically have required somewhat complicated mechanism to allow the smooth sliding action and yet one which holds the visor in a selected adjusted position along the length of the visor rod.